Abstract : Many neurological investigations on food intake are based on the assumption that there is a specific neural system subserving feeding behavior, and that this can be studied more or less independently of the other homeostatic systems of the individual. This agrees well with an approach to the study of the organization of behavior often employed in ethology. In addition, ethologists pay much attention to the interaction of the various systems and to the influence this may have on the overt manifestation of any single one of them. For these reasons their studies provide a useful complement to the neurophysiological analysis of the regulation of food intake. It is one aim of the present paper to illustrate this point. (Author)